This week, anger has turned flags into flames and spilt blood in the streets of Sanaa, Benghazzi, Cairo and Tehran over a cheap, cowardly trap, set with the one aim of inspiring violence.
And it has.
But now it is time that we see through this C-class cowardice, seek out the truth and make a stand for peace, regardless of your beliefs.
The 13 minute youtube clip rumoured to be the trailer for an upcoming movie called Innocence of Muslims, is hateful and malicious.
But if you do watch it, you’ll see that it is also nothing more than a hack-job video compilation put together by a still “unknown” lone, lonely con man with worse video editing skills than the average teenager.
The video’s supposed uploader, an alleged Israeli-American director named Sam Bacile, is a fake name and identity.
The movie is also fake. Hollywood has never heard of it. As the New York Times has reported:
Executives at Hollywood agencies said they had never heard of it. Hollywood unions said they had no involvement. Casting directors said they did not recognize the actors in the 14-minute YouTube clip that purports to be a trailer for a longer film. Production offices had no records for a movie of that name. There was a 2009 casting call in BackStage, however, for a film called “Desert Warrior” whose producer is listed as Sam Bassiel.
And as the Guardian has reported, the cast and crew have come out and openly denied the film’s legitimacy as well.
The entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by the producer. We are 100% not behind this film, and were grossly misled about its intent and purpose. We are shocked by the drastic re-writes of the script and lies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred.
As one cast member reflected:
It was going to be a film based on how things were 2,000 years ago. It wasn’t based on anything to do with religion – it was just on how things were run in Egypt. There wasn’t anything about Muhammed or Muslims or anything.
As the Gawker has reported:
In the script and during the shooting, nothing indicated the controversial nature of the final product, now called Muslim Innocence. Muhammed wasn’t even called Muhammed; he was “Master George,” Garcia said. The word “Muhammed” was dubbed over in post-production, as were essentially all other offensive references to Islam and Muhammed.
For example, at 9:03 in the trailer, Garcia berates her husband, who wants to send their daughter to Muhammed: “Is your Muhammed a child molester?” she says in the final product. But the words are dubbed over what she actually said. The line in the script—and the line Garcia gave during filming—was, “is your God a child molester,”The actor said she was horrified that four US embassy employees, including the ambassador, died in Benghazi. “I had nothing to do, really, with anything. Now we have people dead because of a movie I was in. It makes me sick.”
And so must we be.
This deceitful video portrays The Prophet as nothing but a liar, child molester and a murderer. But the video is a lie itself.
It has been created with the one purpose of creating hate and hysteria in the Muslim world. It has been created by a small group of people, or possibly only one person who wants to see Muslims reacting with violence. They want to see his, because they want CNN and Fox News to show images of Muslim violence to make non-Muslims afraid of Islam. And so I will not show any more images here.
The creators know that if they can make know that the only way that and through their fear, to support horrendous wars against Islam around the world.
It was created as a trap. And it has worked.
In Libya, 4 people have been killed, including an American Ambassador. Embassies have been invaded by violent mobs in Yemen and Egypt.
And the cowards who created the video could not be happier: “We went into this knowing this was probably going to happen.”
But what about those who want and believe in peace. How should we respond?
Here, I look to the Quaran as my guide when it asks all people to rise above hate, as:
The recompense for an injury is an injury equal thereto; but if a person forgives and makes peace, his reward rests with God. (al-Shura 42: 40)
Because, as it says in al-Furqan 25:63:
The true servants of the Most Merciful are those who behave gently and with humility on earth, and whenever the foolish quarrel with them, they reply with [words of] peace.
In order to overcome this un-Godly video, we must all quarrel against it with words of peace. We must openly dismiss it for the lie that it is, but we must resist its calls to anger; or else we fall into the same trap set by ‘mysterious men’ who will never feel the violence they have brought upon he world.
And so we must resist in peace and calls for unity. As people have already begun to do in Libya.
This video is created to divide us. The best way to resist it is to come together across race and religious divides, learn about our differences and show CNN and our common faith, in human kind.
TRAP OR NOT, IT SHOWS THE KIND OF ACTION THE BELIEVERS OF THIS RELIGION WILL RESORT TO IF ANYTHING REALTING TO THEIR PROFESSED FAITH IS INTRUDED UPON. MOVIES HAVE BEEN MADE MAKING FUN OF CHRISTIANITY/CATHOLICS AUDIENCES JUST LAUGH IT OFF AS COMEDY OR A FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT. MOST COUNTRIES ACCEPTING MUSLIM REFUGEES OR ASYLUM SEEKERS WOULD BE THE WESTERN CHRISTIAN/ CATHOLIC COUNTRIES BECAUSE THESE COUNTRIES AFFORD THEM THE FREEDOM THAT IS LACKING IN SO CALLED MUSLIM SOCIETIES/ COUNTRIES. IF THS WAS MEANT TO CREATE TROUBLE, IT HAS WORKED WELL. ELSE IT JUST SHOWS THE INSECURITY OF THE FOLLOWERS OF THE FAITH.
yes, it's a trap, and i won't – and didn't – fall for it.
The principle is quite straight-forward..ie..for every action there'll be an equal & opposite reaction. This applies to Israel-Palestine conflict..a rocket fired into Israel will trigger a response from the Israelis. However, the response to the film varies from one individual to another..one group to another..one society to another..basically governed by their level of cognitive knowledge .. level of thinking capacity. The LOT's (low-order thinkers) usually tend to be easly motivated to response violently..whereas the HOT's (high-order thinkers( might take a different course of action. The film producer might be a HOT but behaving as a LOT…just to test his hypothesis that if he could display this highly-sensitive drama…then there'll be a huge violent response from the Muslim LOT. It seems that hypothesis turn out to be true.
Fact check: The movie is not fake. Unfortunately, it exists as a full-length feature film, and was privately funded by a group of American citizens, most of them Jewish. The film's reported production budget stands at a mind-boggling US$5 million. Mind-boggling because it looks like it cost RM50 to make. A German Far Right group called Pro Deutschland claim to already have a finished cut of the film, and they plan to hold a public screening later this year in Germany. Presumably just to stir shit up.
I heard Pro Deutschland want to show the film simply because they think it would be such a great thing to do and all bu had no link to the film and made the statement in an effort to try to get a copy.
I heard the reports about the film's "reported" budget, and the liks to Jewish backers also, but have not seen any credibility to back it up. I have not seen nor heard anything and the fact that the trailer is 14 minutes, with a compilation of nonsensical scenes, it makes me think that this is all they have…
So I am suspiscious that this film even exists…actually, I don't believe that it does
In order to rile up people, it needs to be called a "trailer" because this giver the impression that there is more to be angry about…and the $5 million is an abitrary figure which like you said, has no relation to the quality of the trailer…
So I am very sceptical that a film exists
For all our sakes, I hope you are right and no such film exists. However, there are sprinklings of evidence here and there that enough raw footage for a full-length feature film exists. A series of pre-production invoices for a 2011 film project titled "Desert Warriors" (signed by a man named Robert Brownell, thought to be a fake alias) were uncovered recently. Shooting reportedly did take place at a rented studio in California. The description of the shoot matches scenes seen in "Innocence of Muslims" as well as a number of scenes NOT seen, which means there is more footage out there. Make of that as you will.
I think it's important to note that most of the rage is concentrated in the Middle East and North Africa, where their countries have been fucked up over and over by the US foreign policies. Considering how the US have helped entrenched the despots, killing people using air drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and have done everything possible to keep the lower rung of the society oppressed, you still expect that Muslims there to be fine if the core of their faith is attacked in such a way?
I am not saying that the violence is justified, but it is far from being something as facile as "a bunch of Muslims who are thirsting for the blood of Americans".
Yeah, but still, this does NOT justify the CENSORING of the youtube video from Malaysia. Whatever happened to NO CENSORING of the internet?
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/mobile/malaysi…
Surely, Muslims in this country can handle such childish pranks, and Non-Muslims in this country are entitled to see and decide whether it justifies all the rage, killing and innocent lives lost as a result of a blatant attempt to provoke the Muslims? Censorship is downright stupid – the Government cant wait to advertise to the world how immature and stupid Malaysians are, by requesting for the video to be censored.
Why do Muslims have to fall for this kind of stupid provocation EVERY SINGLE TIME??
It's a TRAP – to show to the world how, AGAIN AND AGAIN, Muslims are violent and irrational. When will Muslims get it, and STOP REACTING??
Yes, be angry, OF COURSE. But do it in a way to show that you are ABOVE this joker, you are a BIGGER man, MORE MATURE, more CIVILIZED and got more CLASS than him.
Is that not the best and wisest response? Rather than HELPING TO PROVE HIS POINT???
STOP falling for it.
No – stop KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP falling for it!!!!
in fact the movie has shown how & what blinded muslims will do… 4 person is dead.
So note this…blind muslim will kill to defend, even it a movie. The movie has again proven & indicated who they are!
There will be a lot more insinuations towards Islam coming as these perpetrators know that Muslims will react barbarously. The Coptic Christians in Egypt had been subjected to a lot of persecutions and thus they too reacted but not by violent means but through the pen.
The sentiment is a yearly test for muslims to see if muslim still care for their faith, before they (the enemies of the Islam) strike the final blow on Muslim. There's a lot of things going on and the things we thought we know (from what was observed thru the media) is actually just part of the plan
Nice!
DanieLoHH73,
You ask, "Where's the remorse for the dead?"
You will find it in the dustbin, together with the sanctity of life and spiritual values.
In this age when NOTHING is held sacred anymore, moral values are deemed so relative as to render them value-less. So, of what value is a human life nowadays?
When we promote materialism, relativism, abortion and freedom from absolute morals, we will breed a generation of beasts, for whom humanity is nothing but another species in the evolutionary chain. The overriding rule today is "survival of the fittest".
So we reap whatever we sow.
The only way out of this destructive slope is to acknowledge the existence of a giver of ABSOLUTE morals which exists above and beyond ourselves and surrender our self-wills to it completely.
Dare we do that?
Obviously, the movie is completely ridiculous and was made by bigoted racist extremists but its just a stupid youtube video. We can't or should't restrain speach just because we don't like what is said. But, we can calmly criticize and debunk its content, even ridicule the authors. It is by no means a justification for violence or hatred. That reaction is as offensive as the video itself. Free speech is the pentacle of freedom. The right to voice beliefs is paramount.
Daniel..
The thing is…with mass media propaganda…it take 4 fools to discredit a million of people. . . And people have an opinion about everything without giving a second thought…. or deeper thought. . . of a single thought at all…
We can set the list of all abominations committed in the name of God… Do you have 1000 years to hear the story ???
In Burma right now… nobody cares that "Buddhists" are murdering muslims… Nobody talks about it. . ..
If we faced the other situation…we would have talked about it. . .
The discredit towards muslim so far reminds me of what happened in 1933…and the following years. . .
Sorry, denounce not renounce. Salah taip!
One who does not know how to forgive, does not know how to love. Though easier said than done, wounds can't begin to heal unless one forgives. It's sad and incomprehensible that some twisted people deride another's belief to elicit such a fatal response. We have to renounce such bigotry and allow the beauty of each of our own beliefs to shine forth by not falling prey to such evil. Love, and forgive. Try, we must.
Why do Muslims have to apologise for the actions of certain bloodthirsty fools? Let's assume you are Christian, since you've got ol' Daniel's heavenly name, do you constantly apologise for all the priests who have raped all the little boys who were sent to be led in faith? Do you also apologise constantly, or have you apologised for the rape and slaughter of MILLIONS of women, who were burnt at the stake or tried because they were "witches?" Or how about you apologise for the way Christians are treating rape victims, lesbians and gays in the US. Need I go on about more atrocities Christians have committed over the course of time, then you can sit here now, and apologise for all of them. And if you're Buddhist or Taoist, or Hindu, I will also go through the history books and you can apologise for all the abhorrent things you and your fellow whatevers have done, and you apologise, damnit. To assume the religion of Islam and its followers is one monolithic whole and to demand this sort of apology is just ridiculous and stupid, and frankly not very original.
No, Muslims do not HAVE to apologise and show remorse for the 4 people so senselessly killed. If you feel so strongly about the matter that Muslim don't have to be remorseful for 4 life lost over a stupid hateful film made by a cowardly hater and that the 4 that died has nothing to do with. It's entirely your prerogative.
It only show to others that how hypocritical for the Muslims to demand something be done on the film maker while showing such indifferences to the atrocities that are committed by their fellow brethrens.
It'd only show that Muslims have lost whatever moral high ground they have had in this senseless episode of bigotry, hatreds, and violence. They are no better if not worse than the bastard that produce the film. That is all.
By the way, the killing of Rohingya in Myanmar is not done in the name of Buddha, unlike the poor 4 souls who lost their lives over a stupid film, they were definitely killed in the name of Mohammad PBUH.
Yes, indeed it's a trap set by a cowardly hater. But still 4 people has died because of the knee jerk violence over reaction of Muslims. Where's the remorse for the dead? Where's the apology for the 4 innocent victims and their family? IMO, Muslims must take a hard look at themselves especially on their own behaviors when it comes to the matter of religion. Because your own behavior is what will be reflected on your religion. Now, it's not looking very good.